The Daily Times

The only thing with more explosive potential than the Maryville Robotics Club new homemade T-shirt cannon that was blasting defenseless cotton garments over the top of Shields Stadium Friday was the lethality of a rested and focused Rebel offense.

Maryville scored the first three times it snapped the ball, had the reserves in after a quarter and cruised to a 51-0 homecoming win over Heritage.

“It was important for us to be sharp tonight and make plays when we had the chance to make plays and we did that. I thought we were focused and had our mind on our business,” Maryville coach George Quarles said as he moved his record to 11-2 against HHS and 183-13 overall.

It wasn’t the return to Jim Renfro Field Heritage coach — and former Maryville skipper — Tim Hammontree was looking for from his Mountaineers. Heritage’s Dirty 30 battled through but didn’t dent the scoreboard.

“I’m not sure that we can say there is a positive as a whole. We try to create those positives and we didn’t do a good job doing that,” Hammontree said after addressing the team. “We didn’t play up the ability we showed last week or the week before. Maybe that’s one of the things we haven’t figured out as coaches, is how we tie that in with a good week of practices because we had those this week.”

Outnumbering the visitors from just up Lamer Alexander Parkway 3 to 1 in roster size, Maryville showed its qualitative edge as well as its quantitative one in scoring 30 points in the opening stanza. The Rebels (4-0, 2-0 District 4-AAA) ran just six plays in the first quarter with four of them going for touchdowns and collecting a safety on a failed Mountaineer punt. The only Rebel possession that earned the name “drive” started with 1:10 in the period and the starters made the most of their last 70 seconds on the AstroTurf. Nick Myers hit Chris Raymond for 13, Trenton Shuler picked up 12 and Myers found Cody Carroll open in the Don Story end zone for the 30-point lead with :57 seconds still to go before the second quarter.

The reserves took the field and with Tyler Vaught under center mounted a deep drive for the Rebels. The only flag of the first half went against the Mountaineer secondary for interference to get Maryville across midfield. Vaught hit Bryce Miller to convert a key third down and set up Dylan Shinsky’s 5-yard scoring run that wound up the mercy-rule clock.

And even as the clock ticked without cessation the second half, Maryville’s starters were still anxious on the sideline watching the second- and third-string groups.

“We talked about needing to be in the game and being helpful and being part of the process even if you aren’t on the field and we did a pretty good job with that,” Quarles said. “This was a good night, a good effort. A lot of people got to play and a lot of people contributed. This will help us down the line.”

That was particularly true of Myers who finished 4-for-4 for 65 yards and three scores but got to watch as first Vaught, then the recently cleared John Garrett and finally Chase White all got time at signal-caller.

“You’re used to being out there on the field but it was good to see a lot of my friends and teammates getting time on the field and getting a chance to play,” Myers said. “John, Tyler and Chase all got time tonight and I thought they all looked pretty good.”

Maryville returns to action Thursday in MyVLT game at Oak Ridge while Heritage (0-5, 0-2) jumps from one county rival to the other taking on William Blount Friday.

FACILITY DEDICATED: Maryville officially dedicated the baseball practice facility, naming it in honor of Stephen Coleman. Coleman (‘92) was a four year letterman in baseball and football at Maryville before lettering at Maryville College in baseball. He was CEO of Anderson Lumber Company before he lost his battle with cancer in 2011. The Stephen York Coleman Training Facility is located on the campus of Sam Houston Elementary,